Thursday, March 9, 2023

William de Visser

     New York master and organizer William de Visser was born on November 5, 1855 and passed away on Long Island at the age of 68 on December 4, 1923. He was a charter member of the Manhattan Chess Club and in 1899, he won the New York State Championship. 
     Charles A. Gilberg (1835-1898) was the author of two chess books. American Chess-Nuts, a collection of problems, was published in 1868. The other book was Crumbs from the Chess-board, also a book of problems, that was published in1890. 
     He had the second largest chess library in America consisting of over 1,500 books.  After Gilberg, who lived in Brooklyn, died his daughter Eugenie inherited her father's chess library upon the death of her mother. Eugenie was married to de Visser. 
     de Visser's opponent in the following game was Walter Penn Shipley (1860-1942, 81 years old), a well-known organizer and chess patron. He was friendly with many famous players, including Steinitz, Lasker, Pillsbury and Capablanca. 
     He served as the referee of 1909 Capablanca - Marshall match and was an organizer of the famous 1904 Cambridge Springs and 1924 New York tournaments. He formed and was the first president of the US Chess Association, a forerunner of the present US Chess Federation. 
     Shipley was also a very strong amateur player, having faced and held his own with strong masters such as Steinitz, Lasker, Bird, Gunsberg and the leading US players of the day including Pillsbury and Marshall. 
     On May 30, 1900, the Franklin Mercantile Chess Club (Philadelphia) met the Manhattan Chess Club in a telegraph match. 

     Founded in 1885, the Franklin Mercantile Chess club was one oldest chess clubs in the country. From the appearance in 1786 of Benjamin Franklin's famous essay "The Morals of Chess," Philadelphia has long been a prominent center of chess activity. International and American chess greats like Stientz, Zukertort, Lasker, Pillsbury, and even Paul Morphy were frequent visitors. I believe that the club has been closed for some time.
     The Manhattan Chess Club was founded in 1877 and started with three dozen men, eventually increasing to hundreds, with women allowed as members from 1938. The club closed in 2002. Famous members of the club included Denker, Horowitz, Lombardy, Reshevsky and Fischer. It was in the Manhattan, on March 7. 1942, that Capablanca suffered a stroke while watching a casual game; he died the next day. 
     In the following game de Visser played the Wing Gambit against Shipley's Sicilian and wild complications developed. de Visser finished off the game with a long mating combination that included a sham Q-sac. 

A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

[Event "Manhattan-Franklin Match"] [Site "New York, NY"] [Date "1900.05.30"] [Round "?"] [White "William de Visser"] [Black "Walter P. Shipley"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B20"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1900.??.??"] [Source "Edward Winter, A"] {Sicilian Wing Gambit} 1. e4 c5 2. b4 {A very early attempt to disrupt black’s standard play, the Wing Gambit deflects black's P in an attempt to secure control of d4. White can postpone the gambit playing 2.Nf3 followed by 3.b4, but this deferred line is considered to be best when black plays 2...e6. Most GMs consider the Wing Gambit too reckless.} cxb4 3. a3 {This most frequently seen although 3.d4 is occasionally played.} e5 {3...bxa3 is theoretically OK, but in practice it has shown itself to be very risky for black.} 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. axb4 (5. Bb5 {is probably best.} Nf6 6. O-O Nxe4 7. Re1 Nd6 8. Nxe5 {with equal chances. Riha,V (2145)-Lalic,B (2418) Prague 2019}) 5... Bxb4 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qe2 {White has no especially efficient way of defending the e-Pawn.} (7. c3 Be7 8. d4 (8. Qb3 O-O 9. Ng5 Qe8 10. O-O { Black stands well. Gorovykh,E (2447)-Yemelin,V (2571) St Petersburg 2010}) 8... O-O 9. d5 Na5 10. Rxa5 Qxa5 11. d6 Bd8 12. O-O {Nanu,C (2325)-Bernat,R (2140) Szeged 1998. Black is winning, but in the game he soon made a catastrophic gaffe and lost!}) 7... O-O {Threatens to win with ...d5.} 8. O-O d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nd4 (10... Nf4 {is the best followup.} 11. Qe4 Qh4 {Threatening . ..Nh3+ because white's Q is undefended.} 12. d3 Nh3+ {Anyway!} 13. gxh3 Qxe4 14. dxe4 Nxe5 {Black is clearly better.}) 11. Qd3 Nf4 {Will the harrassment ever stop?!} 12. Qe4 Nfe2+ {[%mdl 8192] This check results in major complications as a highly unbalanced material situation that Shipley has completely misjudged.} (12... Be6 {would have kept a meager advantage.} 13. Bxe6 Nfxe6 14. c3 Nb3 15. Ra2 Bd6 16. d4 Nxc1 17. Rxc1) 13. Bxe2 Bf5 14. Qe3 Nxc2 15. Qf4 Nxa1 (15... Be6 {might work better.} 16. Ra4 Qd4 17. Qxd4 Nxd4 18. Bg4 a5 {but here, too, white would have a decisive advantage.}) 16. Qxf5 { What a mess! Counting material we find that white has a B+N+P vs R+2Ps, an approximately even match up, but in reality white is winning in this situation because he has a very dangerous attack against black's K.} (16. Qxb4 {is imprecise and loses the advantage after...} Nc2 17. Qf4 Nd4 18. Bc4 {and black has equal play.}) 16... Qc7 17. Bb2 {The looming attack on black's K cannot realistically be met.} Nb3 18. Bd3 g6 {This loses in brilliant fashion, but there was no way of saving the game.} (18... Rfe8 19. Qxh7+ Kf8 20. Re1 f6 21. Qh8+ Ke7 22. Qxg7+ Kd6 23. Qxf6+ Kc5 24. Qf5 Kb6 25. Nc3 Bxc3 26. Bxc3 a6 27. Rb1 Ka7 28. Rxb3 Rac8 29. h4 {and it's over.}) 19. Ng4 {[%mdl 512] Logical looking and de Visser is not to be criticized for missing the mate in 12!} (19. Qf6 Bc3 20. Bxc3 Qxc3 21. Nxc3 Nxd2 22. Ng4 h5 23. Nh6+ Kh7 24. Nxf7 Rg8 25. Ng5+ Kh6 26. Ne6 Ne4 27. Bxe4 Kh7 28. Qe5 Kh6 29. Qg5+ Kh7 30. Qxh5#) 19... Bc3 (19... gxf5 20. Nh6#) 20. Qf6 {[%mdl 512] A brilliant solution.} (20. Bxc3 { is met by the surprising} Qxc3 21. Nh6+ (21. dxc3 gxf5 22. Bxf5 {White is better, but the position is a difficult one.}) 21... Kh8 22. Qd5 Qg7 23. Nf5 ( 23. Ng4 Nd4 {and black is back in the game.}) 23... gxf5 24. Qxb3 Rab8 25. Bxf5 {Stockfish says white is clearly better. Is he really? The answer is yes...in Shootouts white scored 5-0.}) 20... Bxf6 21. Nxf6+ {[%mdl 32]} Kg7 22. Ne8+ Kg8 (22... Kh6 23. Bg7+ Kh5 24. Be2+) 23. Nxc7 Rad8 (23... Rac8 24. Nd5 {Still wins the exchange.}) 24. Be4 Nxd2 25. Nxd2 Rxd2 26. Bc3 Re2 27. Nd5 f5 (27... Rxe4 28. Nf6+ Kh8 29. Nxe4+ Kg8 30. Nf6+ Kh8 31. Nd7+) 28. Bd3 Ra2 29. Bc4 Ra4 {Losing instantly, but there was no way of saving the game.} 30. Ne7# {de Visser's conduct of the attack was nearly flawless.} 1-0

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